With frigid fingers and welling eyes, West Valley football players hoisted their plaque and made good on their promise.

The Eagles won a section championship on Saturday for the first time since 2013, defeating the Sutter Huskies, 7-0, for an emphatic, emotional win amid a season of overwhelming loss — following through on their pledge to win a section title in honor of their starting defensive lineman who died after an October crash, Tyson Wacker.

"At his memorial, we all got together and we decided there was no going back," Eagles linebacker Cade Lambert said, fighting back tears. "There was no surrendering. There was no stepping down, no matter who came. No matter if it was the New England Patriots."

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West Valley's defensive performance on Saturday could have rattled a professional offense. The Eagles (12-1) gave up only 29 yards (0.8 yards per play) and no first downs to a Sutter (10-3) offense that came in averaging over 35 points per game.

The lone touchdown of the game came after the Eagles forced and recovered a fumble with about two minutes left in the first half. With run after run, West Valley running back Bailey Sulzer chipped away at the Sutter defense, taking the Eagles to the 5-yard line.

From there, quarterback Kitt McCloughan found Myles Gibbons open on an inside slant. Gibbons laid out into the mud and held on to the ball for the only score of the Division III Northern Section championship game.

"We knew we weren’t gonna score very much, either team, because the defenses are too good," West Valley coach Greg Grandell said. "We got the one touchdown. We thought if we could just get some drives and kill the clock, (we'd win). And that’s what happened."

Sulzer, who came into the game as the second leading rusher in the section, had to work for every yard. But he finished the game with 153 of them on 36 carries, serving as the engine of the Eagles' offense.

But the biggest impact came from West Valley's defensive unit, forcing two takeaways to knock off a Sutter team that had won the four previous section championship games dating back to 2014. Sutter hadn't lost to West Valley since 2005.

"Watching that clock go down to zero after Kitt (McCloughan) took that knee, I’ve never felt a feeling like it," Lambert said. "I don’t think I’ll ever feel another feeling like it."

Inseparable from the performance of West Valley's defense was the absence of one of its best players. Tyson Wacker's 15-year-old brother, Ashtin Wacker, dressed for the game, wearing his brother's No. 8 jersey on the sideline, and holding his brother's portrait in a celebratory team photo.

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West Valley players pose for a team photo after winning the Division III Northern Section championship game on Saturday, Dec. 1.(Photo: Hung T. Vu)

"Tonight was about a promise," Grandell said. "It wasn’t about football. It was about a promise to a kid that we lost and his family."

With that promise fulfilled, West Valley's improbable season stretches on. The Eagles' next playoff game will come at home against Rio Linda (11-2), the Northern Section announced Sunday. The Division 5-AA matchup is set for Friday at 7:30 p.m.

"We think our best football is yet to come. We really do, especially offensively," Grandell said. "So we’re really excited about trying to win a state title now."

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West Valley head coach Greg Grandell holds up eight fingers in honor of Tyson Wacker as the Eagles beat the Sutter Huskies, 7-0 , to take the Division III Northern Section championship in Cottonwood on Saturday, Dec. 1.(Photo: Hung T. Vu)

Regardless of how far they go, Eagles players won't forget what Saturday felt like — warm inside despite near freezing temperatures, crying tears of joy for a change.

"Usually when I’m on the football field I can’t even hear the stands ... it’s just me, the game and my teammates," defensive tackle Nathaniel Zambrana said. "Let me tell you, No. 8 was in the back of my mind the entire night."